Henry Howe was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of a publisher and printer, whose bookstore was one of the most famous in the country.

[1] His father, Hezekiah Howe, published the first edition of Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828.

[3] A copy of Historical Collections of Connecticut by John Warner Barber came into the senior Howe's bookstore in 1838.

The spring of 1840 had arrived, when one day I walked into Mr. Barber's office and inquired if he had thought of making a book on New York State."

It was not issued until the month Fort Sumter fell, marking the beginning of the Civil War, and people were living history, not reading it.

He applied to the Ohio Legislature for assistance, and they bought 1200 copies for $12,000, allowing him to complete the three volume set, instead of the two originally planned, in 1891.

The State, in the 71st General Assembly, agreed to buy the copyright and printing plates for $20,000, due to a petition from Senators Sherman, Brice, and Thurman, Governors Cox, Foster, Foraker, and McKinley, and many others, relieving Howe's widow of debt.